Designing for Change

In this course, we use design thinking to prepare students for periods of focused, intensive collaboration between experts and stakeholders to solve a particular problem around the circular economy. We take inspiration from the notion of a Jam, as described in the Global Sustainability Jam:

You’ll be working with people you might never have met before, bouncing ideas off one another and building on what bounces back. And it’s not just talking—you are here to turn your ideas into a concrete design or plan of action which you or somebody else might want to make real. Perhaps it will be a service, a physical device, an initiative, a network, or something no-one has thought of yet—can you describe and plan it in a way that someone could go out and make it real, knowing what resources they would need, what they should do, and who they should talk to? That’s the challenge of the Jam.

As part of the DDC participatory design method, you will work in small interdisciplinary teams, and are required to involve community stakeholders in your project at several points during the course. All teams will be presenting to one another and giving each other feedback throughout the course. Part of the point of a sprint is to exchange expertise, viewpoints and ideas, to make mistakes, and to try new things.

There will be two separate design phases as a part of DDC: a Design Sprint (Phase 2) intended to explore our theme (below), identify specific problems and generate ideas, and a Development Phase (Phase 4) intended to develop a single design in more depth, over a longer period of time.

As described in Project Overview, DDC will have a Sustainable Transport theme, focused on the Edinburgh community. In Phase 1 (this phase), several speakers will present on sustainable transport, and we will also look at University policy on this issue.

Orientation to Skills and Content

We do not expect you to start DDC with all the skills you will need to carry out your projects successfully. Between lecture content, activities, and homework, we will introduce four key topics in preparation for the Design Sprint phase:

• sustainable transport issues;
• introduction to design thinking;
• introduction to observation, ethnography, and ethics;
• introduction to data and information.

It is very important to attend class and keep up with homework in the first weeks, as these cover information essential to participating in the next phases of the course. You will find it very difficult to catch up on this information later.

Starting in Phase 1 (this phase) and continuing throughout the course, we will also work on writing, presentation, and teamwork skills. Individuals and teams will be pushed to explain and justify their work. We see these as central to course success, and as major transferable skills that students can take away from DDC.

By the End of this Phase

You should have a clear idea of what the DDC course will be about and what you will do for the rest of term. You should have participated in class and homework activities to orient yourself to the four key topics. You should have signed the DDC ethics agreement.

Your team should have formed, chosen one of the four sub-themes, and discussed different team members’ interests within that sub-theme as a preparation for the Design Sprint.